Over the next few weeks, I will examine the origins and psychological
impact of the most socially stigmatizing word in Americaâs history, the
word Niggerâand its afterbirth, Nigga. This series is dedicated to the
memory of comedian Richard Pryor, who used the word as part of his
comedic routineâat first as ignorant debasement, but later as a lesson
of his own personal growth, rejecting the psychological reminder of
what society said Blacks were and (in their minds) could never be.
Nigger pathology is something America, black and white (and now Brown
and Yellow), has yet to overcome. âWe Shall Overcomeâ was the mantra of
the 20th Century Civil Rights, and we have overcome a few things (not
many). But one thing we, foâ shoâ, have not overcome is this Nigger
pathology. Whites havenât overcome it either. They may (emphasis on
âmayâ) not say it as often, but many think it, non-verbally express it,
and will offer it up at the slightest provocation. Now, recent
immigrantsâAsians and Latinosâhave caught the disease. Niggerism is a
disease, a disease many of us canât seem to shake. Why? Because it is a
âMade in Americaâ commodity that all who come here choose to buy in to.

We know the word is explosive. It evokes passion, mostly negative
(though youngsters try to make a case [a very weak case] for the
positive attributes of Niggerism). The term was created to inflict
pain, disdain, and create a socio-psychosis that sought to separate
Africans from the mainstream of society. The term was meant to debase,
demean and debilitate the Africanâlater the American born African,
renamed âNegroâ for Americaâs race caste system. Ultimately, the term
Nigger transitioned from a condition (a state of being) to a moniker
for a person, subsequently becoming a mentality. Richard Pryor had to
go to Africa to realize he had the disease. And he essentially said
that when all youâve ever been seen as is one thing, and then you see
something (that looks just like you) that causes you to understand what
youâre not, itâs a powerful revelation. Ignorance is a powerful thing.
The purpose of ignorance is to keep one from being independent of the
one with the knowledge, knowledge thus becoming power, or a form power
to control or manipulate. If I was to describe what a âNiggerâ was, the
first two descriptors (there are eight) would be ignorant and
dependent. A Nigger is a person who has no identity of self and relies
on others to define who they are, and they play the role (in the most
negative ways possible) because they have no way of changing their
reality. And even when they do, they still havenât found their identity
(thatâs why we have ârich Niggersâ). Some people act like Niggers
because thatâs all theyâve ever seen, so itâs all theyâve ever been.
Other people grow out of their Niggerisms but know how to go back there
(a point weâll make later in the series) Chris Rock once said, âI love
Black People, but I hate Niggas.â Some people didnât know there was a
difference, largely because some people see all Blacks as Niggers.
Thus, the constant struggle for identity among African Americans is
always trying to prove who they are, and what theyâre not. At work, at
school, in society, the constant struggle is that the behaviors of one
Black are the behaviors of all Blacks. Conversely, the debased
perceptions that many Whites and others (including other Blacks) have
of black people causes them to assume the same debased views about each
and every one they meet. An expectation that all Blacks are ignorant
and dependent is a fallacy that causes pervasive racism.

This ignorance, of course, means Niggerism isnât a black exclusive.
Societyâs dependence on the term, in relating to Blacksâand Blacks with
each other, makes black identity more difficult to establish, and the
term, Nigger, easier to validate as a common point of reference. The
confliction around the term, Nigger, is in the acceptance around the
use of the term. Black mothers used to teach their children, âItâs not
what someone calls you, but what you answer to.â Unfortunately, far too
many still call themselves Niggers, and answer to it when they are
called it.

Itâs ignorant, but some Blacks are far too limited in their knowledge
and dependent on others self-identity to change their own
self-perception. They donât understand they are not Niggers and are
only perpetuating their own debasement. Itâs the first challenge in
overcoming Niggerism.

Anthony Asadullah Samad is a
national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum and
author of 50 Years After Brown: The State of Black Equality In America
(Kabili Press, 2005). He can be reached at www.AnthonySamad.com